100 days until Australia's election: what could be done better?

By ABC Local

With 100 days to go before the nation votes in the 2013 Federal election, ABC reporters head out on the streets across Victoria to ask people - what could the media do better this coming election? What do you think the media is bad at when it comes to reporting elections - and what is the single biggest issue you want to hear addressed?

On Thursday, June 6, marking 100 days until the Federal election, ABC cross media reporters fanned out across Victoria to ask people some broader questions about the upcoming election - from Mildura to Gippsland, Bendigo and Ballarat to those folk often derided as "inner city" voters in Melbourne - pensioners, students, migrants and 'local yokels' all were asked their opinions.

Not about who they'd vote for; not about who they thought would win. They were asked about what the media should do - what the media could do better - but most importantly, what they thought should be the focus of discussion in this Federal election.

"Fairness. I don't like the derogatory terms they've given to our present Prime Minister."

"More on financial facts and less on the so-called boat people, which is made out, I think, to be a far worse problem than what it actually is."

"If historians are expected to lay their prejudices out in self-disclosure, I don't see why journalists can't be expected to do the same - be truthfulo with the reader, and then let the reader see if they if in fact they still believe if the journalist believes it."

"It's not so much the media, it's the way that the money is being used in the media, that's what I object to. When we have hospitals with really long waiting lists, and the roads aren't always up to scratch, I really object to the money being wasted in that way - and particularly, the campaigns we get in the mail."

What do you want to hear discussed at this election?

"Jobs, for a start. A little bit more for the pensioners, of which I am one. But jobs, for the younger ones."

"Less of the fighting each other, and less of the calling each other names. I really hate that sort of behavior, I think the politicians should be more circumspect. I'd like to see less of that and just come out with their policies."

"There's been lots of campaigns about... getting one up on each other instead of what people want. It's all about undermining each other.

"Education is a big one. Health and disablity are areas that have been left behind recently. It woyuld be good to see more money put back into the health system... it's impossible to provide good healthcare for people, especially locally, in rural areas. It would be good to see rural areas taken care of a bit better."

"Health and education. [The big parties] do seem to focus on that, but once they get into power, instead of putting a huge amount of effort into getting it right, they just band-aid it. And that's not just one government, that's all governments."

"I think - jobs; imports of food, in particular is a really important problem that we need to know more about; why is it so feasible to bring in food from oversease when we could produce it here?"

"More empathy for the people, get back into the real world and fix up the [problems instead of bickering amongst themselves in the Parliament.

What do you think of media coverage in previous elections? What does the media do wrong?

"There's a lot of it. I don't take a lot of notice of it, myself. There's far too much media coverage and it's hard to read between the lines and draw a conclusion, because there's a lot of crap in there."

"There's just way too much about it; in the end you turn it off because you can't stand it any longer.

"It's not so much the media, the thing is more about the people who are supplying the information."

"They advertise too much of the bickering thayt goes on in amongst them all. We're all sick of it; by the time the election gets around we're just sick to death of listening to them and listening to all the bickering and fighting that goes on."

"With the media, I don't know; we've heard this for about three years so the sooner the election's over the better, I think."